Two graduating Peterborough high school students will each receive a $1,000 bursary to pursue higher education in the visual arts, thanks to the annual Bierk Art Fund Bursary Program.
Zijian (Suzanne) Tian, who is graduating from Lakefield College School, will be pursuing studies at Parsons School of Design in New York, and Ava Cummings, who is graduating from Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School, will be attending Durham College’s animation program.
An assessment panel of respected local artists and arts professionals selected Tian and Cummings as the bursary recipients after the students presented their work. This year’s panel was comprised of professional artist and educator Cyd Hosker and Art Gallery of Peterborough curator Fynn Leitch.
Born in Shanxi, China, Tian works in media such as watercolour, 3D print, pottery, photography, collage, and fashion design. She will be pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the fashion design program at Parsons School of Design in New York.
“It is not just about designing clothes,” Tian states in a media release from theElectric City Culture Council (EC3), “It is a ladder to connect the world, to share ideas; a starting point for spreading equity, inclusion, and social justice; a place of beauty in many forms of expression.”
According to EC3, the assessment panel felt Tian was extremely articulate about her process and the emotional aspect of her art making, and they were impressed by the level of maturity and technique exhibited in the work.
Cummings is graduating from the visual arts program at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School and will be attending Durham College to study 2D and 3D digital animation. Between her love of drawing and her fascination with animated episodic productions and feature-length movies, Cummings says she feels drawn to the animation industry.
“There is nothing more I want to do than draw and be creative,” Cumming says, adding she is “especially keen on character design, storyboarding, and clean-up animation.”
According to EC3, the assessment panel was intrigued by her overall portfolio, particularly the strength of her imaginative representation of post-apocalyptic feminist characters.
Administered by EC3, the Bierk Art Fund is an endowment fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough (CFGP) established in 2006 through public donations to honour the lives and work of the late Peterborough arts champions Liz Bierk and her husband, artist David Bierk.
“EC3 is pleased to have this opportunity to support and encourage these young artists and is excited to see what they create as post-secondary students in the visual and media arts,” reads the media release.
“EC3 would like to thank the CFGP for their generous financial support for the Bierk Art Fund Bursary Program, and our partner the Art Gallery of Peterborough for hosting this project.”
